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Sampling methods, sampling distributions, confidence intervals

12, 19 DVB

How to select:
  1. random sampling (by number)
  2. systematic sampling(take every #th member)
    1. sampling interval (population total/sample size)
    2. sampling ratio (use %)
The sampling can be further controlled by using a "stratefied" sampling. This just involves using a systematic search technique within each homogeneous group in the sample.
A sampling frame is a comprehensive LIST of the identified population. Sometimes there is no master list, so this can affect how you select members for your sample. In this case multi-stage clustering can be used. Multi-stage clustering.....I think this is a series of random samplings, where there is an initial random sampling of a broad group, from that group a random sampling is conducted, hence a less broad group, and so forth. The number of times you lessen the breadth is the number of "stages" in your clustering of the sample.
This whole idea of sampling makes perfect sense to me. If you want to evaluate certain characteristics of a chocolate cake, you cut a piece of the cake and taste it, you don't have to eat the whole cake to find out what you want to know. The trick is that the piece of cake you eat has to be the same as the whole cake.